I have been meaning to make one of these for quite some time now. My earlier attempts were less than stellar performers and I knew I could do better. Here it is sitting atop my homemade QCTP. THe holder is made from 7075 T6 aluminum, the bit is a piece of Rex AAA 5/16" square held in place with an 8-32 BHCS and washer.
Here is a view of the dovetail which I cut too deep. Not wanting to hurl another piece of aluminum across the shop I decided to try and patch the screw-up. I drilled and tapped the inside face of the dovetail 1/4-20 and countersunk it to accept a stainless steel screw. The hole is drilled and tapped thru the holder to allow a 1/4-20 set screw to lock the stainless screw in place. A couple of adjustments and I have the holder locking up nicely. The screw head is large enough to give good contact on the piston and can be adjusted further for wear if the need ever arises. One of those seat-of-the-pants repairs that just happened to work. ;D
As for the cutter, I was able to take .200" cuts in aluminum and .100" in annealed 4140 steel with no chatter and got good finishes on both taking cuts as small as .001". It turns and faces without adjusting the tool angle and makes beautiful square shoulders.
Here is a view of the dovetail which I cut too deep. Not wanting to hurl another piece of aluminum across the shop I decided to try and patch the screw-up. I drilled and tapped the inside face of the dovetail 1/4-20 and countersunk it to accept a stainless steel screw. The hole is drilled and tapped thru the holder to allow a 1/4-20 set screw to lock the stainless screw in place. A couple of adjustments and I have the holder locking up nicely. The screw head is large enough to give good contact on the piston and can be adjusted further for wear if the need ever arises. One of those seat-of-the-pants repairs that just happened to work. ;D
As for the cutter, I was able to take .200" cuts in aluminum and .100" in annealed 4140 steel with no chatter and got good finishes on both taking cuts as small as .001". It turns and faces without adjusting the tool angle and makes beautiful square shoulders.